Simone's Mandarin Manor (Fusion 20) - Moving Madness

[vlangel]

Yes, indeed! The pipefish will arrive Wednesday and I'll post pictures. Might be awhile before I have anything to show on the tank though as we haven't even started to build the stand yet.

 

 

 

 

Yes it's quite stressful but sounds like you have planned well. Have a great trip!

 

Thanks, I am going to enjoy this trip very much and will look forward to ordering my ponies when I get home!

[Simone]

Also, a new buddy is on the way! There was this blue stripe pipefish on Diver's Den today and although it was not sexed, I could tell by the bumps on his snout in the picture that he is clearly a male and so I bought him as a mate for my female in the ADA. I am a little nervous about doubling down on the pipefish as I haven't successfully trained the female onto 100% frozen yet but couldn't resist the opportunity.

 

First off, your aquarium is beautiful. I'm a huge fan of gorgonians and sponges and love the way you placed them in such a small system. You will have tons of fun aquascaping your new Fusion 20. I had 2 pipefish in my Nuvo 24 and have 1 female in my New Fusion 30. If the new male is eating frozen, it should really help the other learn to eat it much quicker. You have quite the eye for kinetic art and I look forward to following your next build. Good luck!

 

Thank you for the complements Egginis, I'm flattered as you have such a keen eye for composition yourself. Guess my degree in art history is helpful for aquascaping, not good for much else though lol. Look forward to seeing news pics from your tank!

 

The female pipefish was really going for Ova but then I finally ran out I am still hopeful about training her though as she is accepting cyclopeeze. We will soon see how adding the male affects the situation. What do your pipes eat?

 

Cant wait for photos. Very pretty pipefish!

 

Thanks, they are such beautiful creatures, hopefully I can care for them successfully.

[Obsessed Reefer]

Your nuvo is beautiful, I'm super jealous of your mandarins. Did you have to train them to eat frozen? Or were they bought that way? And you're going to love the Fusion 20. Glad to see another one on its way to someone.

[Simone]

Your nuvo is beautiful, I'm super jealous of your mandarins. Did you have to train them to eat frozen? Or were they bought that way? And you're going to love the Fusion 20. Glad to see another one on its way to someone.

 

Thank you! I'll be sure to check out your tank

 

I got both of my mandys from an awesome LFS that was already attempting to train them. I got them separately about 8 months apart. Both were very skinny when I got them but apparently had accepted some live bloodworms and the male was already accepting some frozen. I used the breeder box method starting with some bottled pods and Ova, then adding cyclopeeze, then mysis. Both accepted some frozen starting on day 1 or 2, never needed to hatch brine for them, but was prepared to.

 

Here is the Coral Magazine issue with the Matt Pedersen article that explains his method for training dragonets:

http://coralmagazine.coverleaf.com/coral/20111112#pg1

[Polarcollision]

Timely! Thanks for the link. I drove an hour to the 'local' fish store that keeps pellet trained blue mandarins only to discover that the small ones for $40 are skin and bones. The larger ones for $60 look good, but I'm not paying that much for a mandarin. Looks like I'll be training one from a better LFS instead. :-)

[Simone]

Timely! Thanks for the link. I drove an hour to the 'local' fish store that keeps pellet trained blue mandarins only to discover that the small ones for $40 are skin and bones. The larger ones for $60 look good, but I'm not paying that much for a mandarin. Looks like I'll be training one from a better LFS instead. :-)

 

Glad to hear you're getting a mandarin, they are so so fun! If you have Ova, offer it first (maybe mixed with some Tigger pods) it really is the magic food.

 

I would also recommend this brine shrimp hatching dish, got it for my pipefish and it is the easiest thing imaginable, don't need a pump or have to separate out the BBS. I feel like the hatch rate might not be as high because a bunch of the eggs get caught in the surface tension of the water but it is plenty for one or two fish. I have a heat lamp positioned about 8 inches above the dish.

 

http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/Hatchery-Dish-p183.html

 

Look forward to pics

[jbb]

snail eggs indeed

[Polarcollision]

Glad to hear you're getting a mandarin, they are so so fun! If you have Ova, offer it first (maybe mixed with some Tigger pods) it really is the magic food.

 

I would also recommend this brine shrimp hatching dish, got it for my pipefish and it is the easiest thing imaginable, don't need a pump or have to separate out the BBS. I feel like the hatch rate might not be as high because a bunch of the eggs get caught in the surface tension of the water but it is plenty for one or two fish. I have a heat lamp positioned about 8 inches above the dish.

 

http://www.brineshrimpdirect.com/Hatchery-Dish-p183.html

 

Look forward to pics

 

I was thinking about modifying one of those mesh breeder nets to hatch BBS/breed pods in the aquarium (behind a rock). There'd be a straw for them to escape. No one does this, no idea if there's a good reason?

 

Edit - trying to avoid more plugs, etc. What size is the dish? Can't find it on the website...

[Simone]

I was thinking about modifying one of those mesh breeder nets to hatch BBS/breed pods in the aquarium (behind a rock). There'd be a straw for them to escape. No one does this, no idea if there's a good reason?

 

Edit - trying to avoid more plugs, etc. What size is the dish? Can't find it on the website...

 

Plugs? Do you mean for the lamp? If so, the lamp isn't actually required but the heat makes them hatch faster. The dish is about 8 inches in diameter. The way it works is the BBS are attracted by the light coming through the hole in the center of the dish and migrate there where you them pick them up with the little sieve that sits in the center, thus no shells or unhatched eggs are mixed in.

 

You can totally do without the dish, its just convenient, might not be necessary for training a mandarin. I've never had to go to BBS with the mandarins but I thinks its good to be prepared incase they don't take to frozen right away and it is the patented Matt Pedersen method lol.

 

In terms of the in tank refugium/hatchery idea, I think it would definitely work fine for pods and maybe for BBS. The brine eggs are so small they might get blown through the mesh, I'm not sure. Unhatched eggs and the shells could make things messy. Is the idea that you would modify the box so it could be submerged? Also, you probably know this already but BBS need to be enriched after 12 hrs because they've consumed their yolk sac so its not really a "set and forget" type of thing. I'm curious if pods and/or BBS would really use a straw to get into the aquarium or just hang out in the net. Would you have macros in the net? Maybe could use a light somehow to lure them out?

[Simone]

So today was a frustrating aquarium day. My pipefish was supposed to arrive this morning by 10:30. The package didn't arrive, tracking said it was delayed and would be delivered tomorrow. Called UPS, they said I had to call Live Aquaria to get them to change it so I could pick the package up from UPS facility. Called LA who called UPS who then said package would in fact be delivered later today. Waited around at home all day, no package. Called UPS, they said package was never out for delivery today. Called LA who called UPS again who then said package had been delivered to my back door. Package was nowhere to be found, UPS tracking doesn't show package as delivered, still says it will be delivered tomorrow. So frustrated and worried for wellbeing of the poor fish. Hopefully it will arrive alive tomorrow, who knows.

[NanoFever]

So today was a frustrating aquarium day. My pipefish was supposed to arrive this morning by 10:30. The package didn't arrive, tracking said it was delayed and would be delivered tomorrow. Called UPS, they said I had to call Live Aquaria to get them to change it so I could pick the package up from UPS facility. Called LA who called UPS who then said package would in fact be delivered later today. Waited around at home all day, no package. Called UPS, they said package was never out for delivery today. Called LA who called UPS again who then said package had been delivered to my back door. Package was nowhere to be found, UPS tracking doesn't show package as delivered, still says it will be delivered tomorrow. So frustrated and worried for wellbeing of the poor fish. Hopefully it will arrive alive tomorrow, who knows.

 

Finally left the house to see some friends and try to cheer up, came home to hermit crab antics.

Sorry to hear about the pipefish! Hopefully he shows up safely this morning.

[Simone]

The pipefish was DOA

[HVani]

Oh no

[metrokat]

Thank you Kat, I'm still trying to decide. Do you mind explaining your rationale? Is it just that the fish need more space ASAP? Getting the Fusion 20 ASAP and then upgrading again when I move is what I'm instinctively leaning towards, but a bunch of people I also respect are advising me otherwise.

Sorry for the delay in responding and I'm happy that you bought the Fusion 20, it seems to be a great little tank. I was just suggesting that the bigger tank right away is better because of the more room you will have. When you move and what changes because of that is still unknown. You could move into a place where the building doesn't allow a much bigger tank than the 20 for example.

 

Sorry about the piepfish.

[ninjamyst]

The pipefish was DOA

 

dang, sorry to hear that.

[kimberbee]

Your tanks is super pretty, I can't wait to see what you do with the new one!

 

Sorry about your pipefish, poor little guy...

[owenj]

Ugh, sucks about the pipefish

[Simone]

Thanks for everyones sympathy about my pipefish. It feels super sad for such a beautiful creature to be plucked from the ocean to then die half a world away in a plastic bag but I guess these things happen in our hobby sometimes. I'm sure I'll get over it in a bit, just feel kind of guilty right now even though it wasn't directly my fault.

 

Sorry for the delay in responding and I'm happy that you bought the Fusion 20, it seems to be a great little tank. I was just suggesting that the bigger tank right away is better because of the more room you will have. When you move and what changes because of that is still unknown. You could move into a place where the building doesn't allow a much bigger tank than the 20 for example.

Sorry about the piepfish.

 

No problem Kat, that's a good point. The aquarium actually arrived yesterday and it made me so excited to see all the swimming space my little guys will have. I think the additional depth of the Fusion tanks really will make a big difference in terms of aquascaping options and just the overall feel of the tank. I'm no expert, but the quality of the tank looks good to me, the silicon looks quite clean. I am hoping to start working on my stand today so I can get this tank going!

 

Your tanks is super pretty, I can't wait to see what you do with the new one!

 

Sorry about your pipefish, poor little guy...

 

Thanks for the complement!

[Simone]

Instead of an aquarium unboxing video, my boyfriend made a video of my frenchie Macy and me "aquarium boxing", i.e. hanging out in the box my Fusion 20 came in. This was my bf's idea to cheer me up after a rough day. Macy tried to eat the packing peanuts (I think they are made of rice).

 

[Obsessed Reefer]

Can't wait to see you get it set up!!! What light are you planning for it?

[Simone]

Can't wait to see you get it set up!!! What light are you planning for it?

 

I'm pretty broke right now so I'm actually going to see if I can make the Nanobox Mini Tide I have on my current tank work. I'm going to try to hang it higher over the new tank and see if it can give enough spread. If that works my bf will make a new mount for it (he's a welder). In the long run, I'm considering another Nanobox, a Hydra, or a Radion.

 

We are working on the stand design, hopefully we will get the wood and metal bought in the next couple of days and get to work.

[Simone]

http://s732.photobucket.com/user/Betaya/media/Tank%20Upgrade/photo23.jpg.html'>

 

More equipment arrived today along with mini reef flakes sand. Unfortunately I realized that the Tunze 6020 is a hazard for my small fish due to the open design of the pump; will have to DIY something to prevent them from getting sucked in.

 

Also bought the metal and wood for the stand today and my bf made the first cuts, the frame should start to come together tomorrow. This is going to be a very unique stand, I'm very excited.

[Simone]

I have some exciting news for my tank; I will be purchasing some great corals from Felicia who lives locally to me. She is going to be taking down her Pony Paradise and starting a new temperate tank and I happened to read about it on her thread so I PMed her and it turned out it was perfect time as she was looking to sell a bunch of corals. Couldn't believe my luck! I will be getting a spiral coral, some gorgs, a blue sponge, and some rics. She has already sold the other livestock and the ponies so please don't contact her about them. Here are few pics she sent me.

 

http://s289.photobucket.com/user/alatarie/media/Corals%20for%20Sale/KnobbySeaRod.jpg.html'>

 

http://s289.photobucket.com/user/alatarie/media/Corals%20for%20Sale/OrangeSpiralWire.jpg.html'>

 

http://s289.photobucket.com/user/alatarie/media/Corals%20for%20Sale/BluePhotosyntheticSponge.jpg.html'>

[rocksmom]

Hey Simone, I hadn't been in your thread before, but decided to check it out after seeing you in my tank thread. Holy smokes, I can't believe I missed this, your tank is beautiful! I just did a quick skim am excited to see what you do with the 20. Love your tsb and dog too. I call my bostons the poor man's frenchie.

 

Sorry for the loss of your pipefish.

[Simone]

Hey Simone, I hadn't been in your thread before, but decided to check it out after seeing you in my tank thread. Holy smokes, I can't believe I missed this, your tank is beautiful! I just did a quick skim am excited to see what you do with the 20. Love your tsb and dog too. I call my bostons the poor man's frenchie.

 

Sorry for the loss of your pipefish.

 

Hi Rocksmom, thanks for checking out my thread. Your set up is lovely and love seeing the pics of your bostons. I very much hope Rocky is ok. My Macy actually had something similar years ago. I feel for you, it's so hard waiting for the results of the tests.

 

Like your comment about bostons being the poor man's frenchie lol but bostons are just as cute I think. Healthy frenchies are definitely really expensive; I could not have afforded to buy mine as a puppy; I lucked out and adopted her. She was 5 years old and had been a show dog but was too old to compete or breed any more so the lady was putting her out to pasture so to speak. She is 12 now and has mostly lost the use of her back legs but she's still as happy and spunky as ever, such a good buddy. Your thread made me realize I should post more pics of her .

 

begging for breakfast treats

 

 

in her cart at the beach

 

 

 

In other news, here's a sneak peak of the frame for my stand.